Page 2 - How Do People Develop Autoimmune Diseases

For example, someone may have a gene that is turned on, but shouldn’t be. If the terrain is fixed,
then that turned on gene can be turned off. The same holds true if someone has a gene that is
turned off that shouldn’t be. If the terrain is changed, then that gene can be flipped back on
again.

Changing the terrain
“I like to think of the terrain as a backyard swimming pool,” says Dr. Bilstrom. “Ideally, that
backyard swimming pool should be crystal clear, the water shimmers in the sunlight, and you
can see all the way to the bottom. And, when you see that pool, you think to yourself, ‘how
inviting would that pool be?’”

“On the other hand, your backyard pool could have tons of algae, old beer cans, tires, and even a
couple of dead raccoons floating in it,” says Dr. Bilstrom. “And, you think to yourself, ‘that’s the
most disgusting thing I’ve even seen!’”

Now, the second example is still considered a backyard pool, but while it’s terrible, not all is
lost. This backyard pool has the potential to be cleaned up. The same holds true with changing
your genes. If they’re changed, or cleaned up, then you’ll start to feel so much better, too.

Environmental triggers that disrupt genetics and terrain
In order for environmental triggers to kick start an autoimmune disease, there has to be a
disruption in genetics and the terrain.

“A lot of times people can identify what the exact environmental trigger was,” says Dr. Bilstrom.
“Without an already disrupted genetics and terrain, though, this trigger wouldn’t have caused the
autoimmune disease. Often times the trigger is such a small event they can’t identify what it was.
It’s like the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’”

Many people say, “I developed this autoimmune disease:

• after my third pregnancy.”
• after a car accident.”
• after I had this bad infection.”

In many cases, though, people say, “I have no idea what caused these conditions to develop. All
I know is:

• my joints started hurting and they got swollen and red and I was diagnosed with
rheumatoid arthritis.”

• my gut became terrible and I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease.”

• I started getting this really bad rash and someone told me it was psoriasis.”

“One of the lovely things is that we now have highly advanced testing available that will allow
us to see what happened,” says Dr. Bilstrom. “And, with that information we’re then in a good